A few days each week, the Hazleton woman, who has multiple sclerosis, relies on nurses from Hazleton General Home Care to tend to her medical needs.

"At the moment, I'm spending more time in bed," explained Cobb, as a nurse from the home care agency based at Hazleton General Hospital prepared to take her blood pressure.

Home health care allows Cobb, 62, and others to stay in their homes for nursing, therapy and other needs.

The local agency is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and continues to provide services to folks of all ages, said Sandra "Sandie" Mumich, executive director.

"We provide skilled nursing along with physical, occupational and speech therapy," she said, and noted that October is National Home Health and Hospice Month. Nurses also teach patients how to manage their illnesses, medications or wounds, and alert them to symptoms that require a call to their physician.

To obtain services, patients need a physician's referral.

"The services are based on medical necessity," Mumich said, "and there has to be some kind of potential to either maintain patients at the current level or to improve them to a higher level."

Patients are considered homebound.

"Homebound means not that you can't leave home but that it requires a considerable effort to leave home," Mumich said. "For example, a person who has just had surgery, and who has pain or is not moving around real well, could be considered homebound."

Christine Sereta, 21, was in that predicament recently.

The Drums woman had surgery and needed help with a post-operative wound.

"They came to change my packing and to check my vitals," she said. "They were the communication between me and my doctor. They handled questions, phone calls and prescriptions."

Sereta only needed a few visits. She has healed and is back on her feet.

Cobb, however, noted that some need care for much longer periods. It all depends on the patients' needs, she said.

Leon DePaul, 89, of Sugarloaf Township, will be seeing physical and occupational therapists from the agency for about a month. He has spinal stenosis that causes back pain and mobility issues, said his wife, Carmella "Millie" DePaul.

Leon enjoys the visits, Millie said.

"They're really good, the nurses and the therapist. They're all wonderful people," she said. "When Leon starts talking to the therapist, he keeps talking and talking. He is a World War II veteran so he has a lot to talk about. They all listen to him and he really enjoys it."

In addition to home visits, the agency has a home monitoring system used by patients who run a high risk of being readmitted to the hospital, Mumich said. The equipment measures a patient's weight, blood pressure, oxygen level and pulse, and sends results to a secure website that the agency monitors.

"So even if they don't have a visit that day, we know if they're doing well or not," she said. "If there's a problem, of course, we'd be on the phone with them asking what's going on and if necessary arrange a visit or call to the doctor."

Hazleton General Home Care also coordinates "well baby" visits with newborns and their mothers through the hospital's Healthy Beginnings Plus program.

"We see them from there all the way up to 100-plus (years of age)," Mumich said.

For more information on the agency and its services, call 570-501-4949.

"My attitude is that it is a privilege to go into patients' homes and into their lives. We want to make sure we treat them with respect and give them the best possible care," Mumich said.

jwhalen@standardspeaker.comJustine Craig, right, a registered nurse from Hazleton General Home Care, takes Diane Cobb's blood pressure during a visit to Cobb's Hazleton home.

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